Will Posey

This game is pretty bad. Portal is great, and Hazard Zone is a little fun, but pretty much everything else is flawed. The maps are poorly designed and uninspired, the sound design and atmosphere is a step down from previous Battlefield games, the UI is legitimately awful and completely un-intuitive, destruction is lacking, customization is a major step-down from Battlefield V, for some reason there is no scoreboard, and the weapons selection is pretty pathetic. But by far the worst decision this game made is the introduction of Specialists/Operators/whatever. The class system made battlefield unique and promoted teamplay. It made everyone feel like an integral part of the team. Specialists were ironically parroted as being implemented for this exact purpose, while in reality it takes away from the entire experience. You are no longer a nameless soldier, essentially a projection of yourself, gloomily trudging to your death, but a comic-book character with quips that sound like they belong in an Avengers movie. The tonal inconsistencies are another issue in the game. The backstory is depressing and grim, the music is a grating lament of the destruction humanity has wrought upon itself, but the specialists are happy-go-lucky airheads that couldn't care less that their family is dead and their home has been washed away. The specialists are obviously just a tone-deaf attempt to cash in on the current industry fads, ripping off vastly superior games like COD Modern Warfare 2019. If EA and DICE actually cared about every player feeling represented, then they could have brought back the BF5 customization system, which although out of place in a semi-realistic WW2 game, would fit perfectly in a near-future setting. But alas, we get Santa as a playable character. Anyways, I digress. The game is not all bad. The gameplay is decent, which is the core of any game, and "Battlefield Moments" are plentiful. I have no doubt that DICE will attempt a Battlefront 2-esque turn around and this game will have its rough patches ironed out. If the development team(s) stick with the game and listen to the community, Battlefield 2042 will be a great game. Sadly, it is not there yet. I would recommend waiting at least until next year to buy the game, and would instead suggest you buy, if you haven't already, an older Battlefield title, mainly BF4, BF1, or BF5. All of those still have an active playerbase. If you prefer something more tactical and realistic, try Insurgency: Sandstorm, Hell Let Loose, or Enlisted. It's a shame that BF2042 is not a complete game at launch, despite supposedly being ahead of schedule earlier in 2021. But don't be sad. This is just how it works out sometimes.